Scouting the key to duck hunting success

Paul Schmitz and Larry Pollard like to be where the ducks are and where other hunters aren't

Larry Pollard with a snow goose that he shot at Lake Okeechobee (courtesy Kyle Pollard )

January 3, 2013|By Steve Waters, Sun Sentinel

For Paul Schmitz, the biggest key to a successful duck hunt is scouting.

But Schmitz doesn't just look for ducks. He looks for them in places where there are no signs of other hunters.

The result this season has been some incredible hunts where Schmitz and his companions have been the only ones hunting in the area and ring-necked ducks poured into his decoy spread even after he had limited out and was picking up the downed birds and decoys.

Schmitz, a financial advisor from Coral Springs, refers to these hunts as his personal STAs.

STAs are the stormwater treatment areas in South Florida that have thousands of ducks and seemingly almost as many hunters.

Many of the people who hunt at the STAs, where hunting is by permit and only on weekends, scout by looking for where other hunters are located, then setting up nearby. Then they shoot at any ducks that fly by, whether or not the birds are in range, so real duck hunters who like to have birds come into their decoy spread are out of luck.

Schmitz stopped applying for STA permits a long time ago and instead hunts in the Everglades and at Lake Okeechobee, where he primarily shoots ringnecks.

"Ringers are my favorite because they fly so fast and they're so challenging to hit," said Schmitz, who also loves to eat the ducks, marinating and grilling the breast meat and also making jerky out of it.

By setting up in areas with few if any hunters, Schmitz can let the birds work. That means Schmitz lets the birds get a look at his decoy spread and then circle back and try to land in the decoys. If you tried that at an STA, chances are that other hunters would blast away at the ducks while they were circling.

Larry Pollard likes to hunt the STAs with his son Kyle, 20, but some of the most memorable hunts they've had this season were at Lake Okeechobee.

Their best hunt was last month when Pollard, of Margate, shot a snow goose at the north end of the lake. Snow geese are legal to shoot during the duck season, which runs through Jan. 27. The daily limit is 15, although Pollard knows of only two other snow geese killed this season in South Florida.

"I took the day off from work," Pollard said. "Kyle actually talked me into it and it was like the best thing that could've happened to me after that goose."

Pollard, who works for the City of Boca Raton, was hunting in an area he has hunted for 25 years.

Once again, scouting paid off. There were plenty of ducks and no other hunters nearby.

"That morning it was unbelievable," Pollard said. "The ringnecks were everywhere."

The Pollards were close to having their limit of 12 ringers when they saw something out of the ordinary.

"About 7:30, I was in the back of the boat and my son was in the front. I was talking to him and to my side I saw something white," Pollard said. "I thought it was a Peking duck, then I saw the bill and said, 'That's a goose!' I told my son, 'Kyle, that's a goose, shoot him!' and he didn't do anything. He said, 'It's a white bird.'

"So I ran up to the front of the boat beside him to be safe. The goose was flying close, maybe 20 feet in the air, and on the third shot I knocked him down. I'm telling my son it's a goose, he's saying no way. So we went over and picked it up and I said, 'What did I just tell you?' I've never seen one before. I've never seen a goose up there period in 25 years. I was so excited."